Join rural service, earn incentive marks for PG, rules SC
As a way to incentivize doctors for serving in rural regions of India, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the doctors the benefit of extra marks in admission to different Post-Graduate(PG) courses.
In this regard, a bench that was headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur held that eligible in-service doctors will be granted extra marks of up to 30 percent of the total marks if they serve in rural areas.
The SC upheld the judgement by the Allahabad High Court that had quashed the order from the Uttar Pradesh government which sought to provide 30 percent quota for admissions to PG courses to those doctors who have served in rural areas. Petitions were earlier filed against the HC verdict.
The apex court made it clear that under no act or regulation was quota for admissions in medical PG courses allowed. But giving incentive marks is possible.
In its verdict, the court stated that it was aware that the verdict would affect the candidates the applications of whom had already been processed for admissions in the 2016-2017 PG courses.
The judgement states thus:
“The State governments across the country are not in a position to provide health care facilities in remote areas for want of doctors. In fact, there is a proposal to make one year rural service mandatory for MBBS students to apply for admission to post graduate courses. The plan has been kept on hold, as was stated before the Rajya Sabha. The provision in the form for granting weightage of marks, therefore, was to give incentive to in-service candidates and to attract more graduates to join as Medical Officers in the State healthcare sector. To determine the academic merit of candidates, merely securing high marks in the NEET is not enough. …The academic merit of the candidate must also reckon the services rendered for the common or public good. Having served in rural and difficult areas of the state for one year or above, the incumbent, by rendering services for health care in rural areas, deserves incentive marks for determining merit,”